What is iridium?

Iridium is a metal element with atomic number 77 and an IR symbol. The periodic table of elements is located in group 9 between platinum and eight. It is referred to as "temporary metal" and also as "platinum metal", along with Ruthenium, Rhodium, Palladium, eight and platinum.

Iridium is a metal element that is hard and fragile. Described as whitish yellow or silver color, it is just slightly less dense than eight, which is the densest element-22,560 gm/cm ^{3 compared to 22.6 gm/cm}

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Iridium was discovered by Smithson Tennant, an English chemist, in London in England in 1803, and his name comes from Latin for Iris, the goddess rainbows for his color salt. Tennant was also on Discover of Osmium.

It is located in gravel deposits and believes that it occurs only in alloys with other noble metals, ie not in an unforgettable state. Often there are alloyed eight in compounds called eight and iridiosmium, the origin of the names is obvious. However, it is very rare, occurringOnly 0.001 ppm in the Earth's crust.

Iridium has a number of uses. It is used to harden platinum, combined with eight in creating the pen of golden tips and to create highly specialized cups. Iridium can be involved in cancer irradiation, as well as the production of subcutaneous syringes and surgical pins. Other uses include spark plugs for helicopters, rotating bearings and extrusion.

One of the very special uses of iridium is its role in the weight standard and measures for a kilogram, which is made of Iridia alloy (10%) and platinum (90%). Due to the exceptionally high amounts of iridium in rocks dating between the chalk period and the tertiary period, t is speculated by some that Iridium was part of an asteroid that hit the country and led to the extinct dinosaurs.